Global in-flight wifi player Gogo opens office in Chennai, enters India mkt

To market products to Indian airlines

A go-ahead signal to in-flight connectivity from telecom regulator TRAI has sparked interest from major global players in the business. 

Enthused by the decision, Illinois-based inflight-internet Company, Gogo has decided to enter India market. In the first stage, Gogo will open a technology development centre in Chennai which will be used for marketing initiatives with Indian airlines. Gogo provides in-flight wifi services to major airlines around the world including British Airways, American Airlines, Air Canada, Delta. The company will hire around 30 engineers for the establishment at Chennai which will be operational by March and will ramp up to 100 by the end of this year.

“This will help us to have a presence in India which will enable us to accelerate the development of our in-flight connectivity and entertainment solutions and introduce them to the Indian market,” said Anand Chari, Chief Technology Officer at Gogo.

Gogo is already in talks with major telecom service providers like Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio for forging a partnership. According to TRAI recommendations, a service provider whether Indian or foreign should partner with an entity which is authorised to provide internet and telecom connectivity in India. “I don’t want to name them but we are discussing with every major player so that we can get started as soon as the regulations permit,” Chari said.

Last week, in a major boost to in-flight connectivity, TRAI had recommended permitting use of wifi and mobile connectivity inside aircraft. The government now will take a final call on the matter and subsequently amend the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 to allow the usage.

However, in a market which is price sensitive and dominated by low-cost carriers, airline executives were not too enthused about the prospect of in-flight wifi. “The in-flight connectivity business case is a difficult case to make for domestic airline operations, the aircraft are smaller, there are fewer passengers and aircraft flying times are not that long,” said Stephen Tame, chief advisor, IT at IndiGo.

Chari, however, said that price will not be a hindrance for airlines to provide the service and airlines can package it attractively according to the market demand.

“Airlines across the world provide multi-layered product service like there can be a package which allows only instant messaging service, a separate package for email service and a different one for streaming, the products can be offered according to need," he said adding that Indian airlines have shown interest in the service.